Minister needs to address shortage of HIV kits

I AM writing to air my frustration over the issue of HIV test kits in the country currently. Papua New Guinea had run out of test kits to test people for HIV earlier this year. The Health Department was alerted to the matter and promised partners that this will be taken care of. Up till now (and World AIDS Day is a week away) the entire country has stopped completely from testing people for HIV because of stock out of HIV test kits. This is a basic denial to every citizen of this country. We all need to know our HIV status so it can help us to better plan our lives and manage our health and not spread HIV unknowingly and infect others. Imagine what is happening right now. Can Health Minister Michael Malabag do something about this before it’s too late? If we are serious about test and treat concept or testing at point of care, we need the test kits. Only then can we reach 90 – 90 – 90 and we can proudly say we are managing HIV otherwise we are missing the boat